


Justification

by dragonashes



Series: Quintessence: Undertale One-shots [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers - Undertale Genocide Route, Spoilers - Undertale Neutral Route, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 15:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8673004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonashes/pseuds/dragonashes
Summary: What could justify murder?  Frisk and Sans have a...chat.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't too gory, but be aware that there is reference to stabby things happening here.

“I _tried,_ Sans!  I tried to save everyone!  It didn’t - didn’t _work!_ ”

“you filthy liar!  you didn’t save _anyone_.”

“I _did!_  I played nice, when I first fell down here.  I didn’t fight, didn’t hurt anyone.  I was a perfect little kid.  And you know what happened?”  Frisk took a step forward.  “Do you know what _happened_ , Sans??”

Sans remained silent, watching the increasingly aggressive child with a glowing eye.

“I died.  I died over and over and over and over and _no one helped me._  I _died_ and it _hurt_ and I...I couldn’t do it anymore.  I couldn’t let them _kill me_ and not at least _try_ to defend myself.”

“see, here’s the thing, kiddo.  even if i believe your ‘self-defense’ nonsense, that’s not what happened here.  you weren’t just defending yourself; you actively hunted down monsters.  you wandered around...around snowdin, around waterfall, around hotland...heck, even here in the core.  you searched every corner, every back alley until there was  n o   o n e   l e f t   a l i v e.  you can’t call that self-defense.”

“Oh?”  Frisk glanced down at her knife, running a careful finger over the blade.  “See, here’s the thing, Sans.  Every monster that I killed initiated combat with me first.  I met monsters that didn’t fight me, you know.  Gerson, most of the Temmies, and so on.  If they didn’t fight me, I just left them alone.”

Sans laughed - an awful, choking sound.  “oh yeah?  and p-papyrus?  he didn’t even try to fight you.  he _spared you._  he tried to _help_ you. _he believed in you._ ”

“Sure, this time around.  The first time, when I was actively trying to befriend him?  He beat me into unconsciousness three times, locked me in your shed, and sold me out to Undyne.”

“well, you _are_ a despicable person.  i don’t blame him in the least.”

“I...didn’t want to, you know.  I wanted to spare him.  But...I couldn’t risk it.”

“why the _hell_ not?”

Frisk looked up from her knife, tears in her eyes.  “I have a brother too.”

Sans took a half-step back, hesitantly.  Whatever passed for his eyes slid away, and it looked like he wasn’t sure what to say.

“My brother - he’s everything to me.  If I, say, was with him on a hiking trip and fell into a hole in a certain mountain, he’d come looking for me.  He’s not like me, you know.  He’s…hmm.  I don’t know how much monsters know about mental illness, but he’s not always...in touch with reality.  He’s the kindest and gentlest person I know.  If someone were to try to fight him, he wouldn’t know what to do.  On a bad day, or if he was scared or hurt, he might not even remember how to defend himself or dodge.  He wouldn’t try to fight back, and he wouldn’t...wouldn’t even know to run away.”

Frisk swallowed.  “If my brother fell down here looking for me, he would die.  I thought I could break the barrier and get us all out of here before he did anything stupid, but...I _couldn’t_ .  I tried so, so hard, but...but I _failed._  At least now everyone is afraid of me.  If another human falls down here, whoever’s left should be too afraid to confront him.”  She sniffled, tears finally falling.  “I just really, really wish there was another way, Sans.  I really do.  I-I miss everyone.”

She tried to collect herself, mindful of the murderous skeleton in front of her, but it was a lost cause.  Once the tears started, there was too much pent-up emotion to stop them.

She smelled him - bones, dust, and the woodsmoke-and-grease scent that meant Grillby’s - before she felt his bony arms on her back.  It was a shock all the same.

“kid, i appreciate the explanation.  i really do.”

It was so very, very easy to sink into his jacket just a little bit, reveling in the comfort of having someone hold her after her ordeal.

“i know it’s hard to tell all that to someone, especially someone you consider  a n   e n e m y.”

Frisk tried to pull away, recognizing the threat in Sans’s voice, but it was far too late.  The movement caught on bone, and it took a moment to realize that _I didn’t have bones there before, why can’t I move,_ **_why does it hurt so much…_ **

“geeettttttt dunked on!!!”

The voice was _too cheerful, why is it cheerful when I’m_ **_bleeding out in front of him??_ **

“seriously though, kid.  i get you, i really do.  maybe, if you hadn’t killed paps…well, i might even be willing to help you.”

The voice was getting distant, like static, and Frisk realized that she...she was dying...again…

“hey.”

An agonizing jolt of movement brought Frisk back to attention for just a moment, and she sobbed.  It was almost too much; her diaphragm didn’t want to move properly, and it felt like there was a bone through a lung.

“kid, if you - say - have the ability to do all of this over, i suggest you take it.  bring them back.  try, um, ‘playing nice’ again.  i’ll help you as much as i can.  just...just don’t _do this again_ , capiche?”

“W-why?”

“‘cuz i know what you’re feelin’, kid.  hey, stay with me, i’m not done.”

_Should’ve thought of that before impaling me on giant bones, you dumb-_

“i know i’d do anything to protect my bro, even kill someone...someone i considered a friend.  but hey, a brother for a brother, am i right?  you bring my bro back…”

His face came closer.  The bones disappeared, leaving a feeling of strange emptiness and _pain._

“...A n d   I   w o n ‘ t   h u n t   d o w n   y o u r s.”

Fear spiked through Frisk, but even that jolt of adrenaline paled in comparison to blood loss.  Her body wasn’t responding and her vision was growing dark.  Even words were too much at this point.

In her last conscious moment, she thought she heard Sans whisper something...a password?  Who made their password something like th…

Darkness.

 

CONTINUE          *RESET

**Author's Note:**

> ...And that's why you should PLAY NICE, FRISK. You won't like Sans when he's angry.
> 
> I had something nice and sweet lined up, but editing took longer than anticipated...so you get this!
> 
> I have never played the genocide/no mercy route in Undertale because I cannot justify it to myself. This short story arose because I KNOW a lot of people in the fandom HAVE played through the game murdering everything and everyone in the Underground. Yes, it's just a game and has no real-world consequences, but inside the Undertale universe that wouldn't be the case, now would it?
> 
> Most stories that reference the 'genocide route' attribute this to boredom or curiosity (i.e. Flowey's motivations for his own 'genocide' timelines) but...Flowey is soulless. What motivates him doesn't necessarily motivate me, the player, who still has a 100% intact soul. There are characters in Undertale I could justify killing in self-defense, but...frankly, I don't think I could justify killing Papyrus. This is my attempt to see if I could come up with a justification for murdering EVERYONE. (It's not a good one, but it's at least more reasonable than 'I was curious.')
> 
> "Justification" is one of many one-shots I've written for the Undertale fandom. (And yes, some are cute and fuzzy, I promise!) If you enjoyed this and want to see more, please follow my author profile or the series, "Quintessence: Undertale One-shots." I post on Wednesdays and Saturdays, except when I attempt ambitious editing projects over holiday weekends.


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